Factor Structure and Construct Validity of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP): A Replication and Extension in Dutch Nonclinical Participants

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of expected associations (or lack thereof) between the three scales of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (LSRP) three-factor model and external criteria included in this study.

Measure	Scale	Egocentricity	Callousness	Antisociality
SRP–III	Interpersonal facet	+
	Affective facet		+
	Lifestyle facet			+
	Antisocial facet			+
PNI	Grandiose narcissism	+
	Vulnerable narcissism			+
MSI–BPD	Borderline PD			+
TIPI	Openness
	Conscientiousness			−
	Extraversion
	Agreeableness	−		−
	Emotional stability			−
SIPP–SF	Self-control			−
	Identity integration			−
	Responsibility			−
	Social concordance	−	−	−
	Relational capacities	−	−	−
MCSDS	Social desirability	−	−	−
MDS	Moral disengagement	+	+	+
IPIP	Morality	−	−	−
IPIP/SRAS	Altruism	−	−	−
STAB	Physical aggression		+	+
	Social aggression	+
	Rule breaking	+		+
AIS	Attitudes toward infidelity	+	+

Note. SRP–III = Self-Report Psychopathy Scale; PNI = Pathological Narcissism Inventory; MSI–BPD = MacLean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder; TIPI = Ten-Item Personality Inventory; SIPP–SF = Severity Indices of Personality Problems–Short Form; MCSDS = Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale; MDS = Moral Disengagement Scale; IPIP = International Personality Item Pool; SRAS = Self-Report Altruism Scale; STAB = SubTypes of Antisocial Behavior; AIS = Attitudes toward Infidelity Scale. + = significant positive association was expected. − = significant negative association was expected. Blank cells indicate that null relations were expected. These predictions were based on β coefficients from multiple regression analyses (i.e., when the shared variance among LSRP factors was controlled for).

Table 2. Correlation and regression results of Levenson Self Report Psychopathy (LSRP) scale scores with external criteria.

Measure	N	α	M	SD	Scale		Egocentricity		Callousness		Antisociality		Total score
						R^2adj	r	β	r	β	r	β	r
SRP–III	144	.83	2.29	.55	Interpersonal facet	.28***	.53***	.46***	.31***	ns	.25**	ns	.56***
	144	.73	2.18	.46	Affective facet	.27***	.53***	.47***	.26**	ns	.25**	ns	.54***
	144	.73	2.48	.50	Lifestyle facet	.34***	.50***	.34***	.28**	ns	.46***	.31***	.62***
	144	.71	1.35	.40	Antisocial facet	.19***	.39***	.33***	.33***	.22*	.10	ns	.42***
	144	.90	2.08	.37	Total score	.42***	.62***	.52***	.37***	.16*	.35***	ns	.69***
PNI	144	.89	2.08	.79	Grandiose narcissism	.18***	.37***	.33***	.06	ns	.31***	.20*	.39***
	144	.94	1.61	.74	Vulnerable narcissism	.31***	.34***	.20*	.01	ns	.54***	.48***	.43***
MSI–BPD	144	.76	.21	.23	Borderline PD	.22***	.11	ns	.05	ns	.48***	.51***	.27**
TIPI	140	.57^a	5.09	1.34	Openness	ns	−.10	ns	−.10	ns	.12	ns	−.05
	140	.44	5.51	1.14	Conscientiousness	.17***	−.16	ns	−.23**	−.19*	−.40***	−.39***	−.32***
	140	.74	4.76	1.58	Extraversion	ns	−.08	ns	−.15	ns	.03	ns	−.09
	140		2.60	1.22	Agreeableness: Critical/Quarrelsome [R]^a	ns	.13	ns	.10	ns	−.05	ns	.10
	140		5.74	1.14	Agreeableness: Sympathetic/Warm^a	.16***	−.36***	−.24*	−.30***	−.20*	−.25**	ns	−.41***
	140	.62	5.29	1.38	Emotional stability	.13***	−.09	ns	.01	ns	−.38***	−.40***	−.20*
SIPP–SF	572	.85	43.97	5.50	Self-control	.31***	−.33***	−.10*	−.24***	−.13**	−.53***	−.47***	−.46***
	572	.88	43.19	5.64	Identity integration	.18***	−.25***	ns	−.18***	−.09*	−.41***	−.36***	−.35***
	572	.87	41.37	5.64	Responsibility	.34***	−.40***	−.17***	−.30***	−.17***	−.52***	−.42***	−.52***
	572	.83	40.55	5.26	Social concordance	.37***	−.30***	−.17***	−.21***	−.11*	−.34***	−.26***	−.57***
	572	.81	40.13	5.94	Relational capacities	.16***	−.46***	−.25***	−.34***	−.19***	−.50***	−.38***	−.37***
MCSDS	140	.81	.50	.17	Social desirability	.18***	−21*	ns	−.28**	−.23**	−.39***	−.36***	−.36***
MDS	144	.89	1.62	.33	Moral disengagement	.28***	.52***	.53***	ns	ns	.27**	ns	.49***
IPIP	144	.66	4.32	.39	Morality	.36***	−.57***	ns	−.32***	−.46***	−.39***	−.19**	−.65***
	144	.77	4.19	.41	Altruism	.14***	−.33***	−.23*	−.15	ns	−.32***	−.23**	−.40***
SRAS	144	.84	2.73	.51	Altruistic acts	ns	−.09	ns	.06	ns	−.05	ns	−.05
STAB	144	.83	1.73	.51	Physical aggression	.14***	.37***	ns	.16	.31**	.27**	ns	.41***
	149	.82	1.85	.41	Social aggression	.11***	.16	ns	.06	ns	.35***	.24***	.27**
	149	.62	1.15	.19	Rule breaking	.10**	.27**	ns	.21*	ns	.22**	ns	.34***
AIS	144	.69	2.29	.67	Attitudes toward infidelity	.04*	.21*	ns	.21*	ns	.06	ns	.24**
AFI	144	.54	1.31	.29	Heroism	ns	.09	ns	.14	ns	.12	ns	.16

Note. SRP–III = Self-Report Psychopathy Scale; PNI = Pathological Narcissism Inventory; MSI–BPD = MacLean Screening Instrument for Borderline Personality Disorder; TIPI = Ten-Item Personality Inventory; SIPP–SF = Severity Indices of Personality Problems–Short Form; MCSDS = Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale; MDS = Moral Disengagement Scale; IPIP = International Personality Item Pool; SRAS = Self-Report Altruism Scale; STAB = SubTypes of Antisocial Behavior; AIS = Attitudes toward Infidelity Scale; AFI = Activity Frequency Inventory. For ease of presentation, only significant β coefficients are reported. Hypothesized convergent relations (β coefficients) for LSRP factor scores appear in bold type (cf. Table 1).

^a Critical/quarrelsome and sympathetic/warm are the two items of the TIPI Aagreeableness scale. Because of the negative correlation between the two agreeableness items in this sample (r = −.15), both items were included as single-item indicators for agreeableness.

* p < .05. ^** p < .01. ^*** p < .001.

Table 3. Confirmatory factor analysis model fit indexes for tested models.

	χ^2	df	p	RMSEA	95% CI LL	95% CI UL	Close fit p	CFI	TLI
Model 1	1463.347	298	<.0001	.068	.064	.071	<.001	.814	.797
Model 2	1059.089	294	<.0001	.055	.052	.059	<.01	.878	.865
Model 3	690.201	149	<.0001	.065	.060	.070	<.001	.886	.869
Model 4	644.204	147	<.0001	.063	.058	.068	<.001	.895	.878
Model 5	428.281	145	<.0001	.048	.043	.053	.751	.940	.930

Note. N = 856. RMSEA = root mean square error of approximation; CI = confidence interval; LL = lower limit; UL = upper limit; CFI = confirmatory fit index; TLI = Tucker–Lewis Index. Model 1 = original two-factor model (Levenson et al., 1995). Model 2 = original two-factor model, respecified. Model 3 = Brinkley et al.’s (2008) three-factor model. Model 4 = Brinkley et al.’s (2008) three-factor model, as respecified in Sellbom (2011). Model 5 = Sellbom (2011) three-factor model, respecified. An item-mapping matrix is reported in Supplemental Table S1.

Table 4. Standardized factor loadings, mean, standard deviation, and latent correlations for the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (LSRP) scales.

Factor	Item	Factor loading
		λ	SE
Egocentricity	In today’s world, I feel justified in doing anything I can get away with to succeed.^a	.531	.034
	My main purpose in life is getting as many goodies as I can.^b	.507	.031
	I enjoy manipulating other people’s feelings	.696	.036
	I tell other people what they want to hear so that they will do what I want them to do.	.588	.029
	For me, what’s right is whatever I can get away with.^a	.608	.030
	Success is based on survival of the fittest; I am not concerned about losers.	.735	.025
	Making a lot of money is my most important goal.^b	.550	.029
	I let others worry about higher values; my main concern is with the bottom line.	.622	.035
	I often admire a really clever scam.	.518	.032
	People who are stupid enough to get ripped off usually deserve it.	.624	.034
Callousness	Even if I were trying very hard to sell something, I wouldn’t lie about it. [R]	.508	.043
	Cheating is not justified because it is unfair to others. [R]	.710	.041
	I feel bad if my words or actions cause someone else to feel emotional pain.^c [R]	.474	.049
	I make a point of trying not to hurt others in pursuit of my goals.^c [R]	.572	.046
Antisociality	I am often bored.	.585	.043
	I quickly lose interest in tasks I start.	.580	.044
	I have been in a lot of shouting matches with other people.^d	.706	.060
	I find myself in the same kinds of trouble time after time.	.571	.044
	When frustrated, I often let off steam by blowing my top.^d	.221	.049

Note. All factor loadings are significant at p < .001. [R] indicates reverse-keyed items. Items with residuals that were allowed to correlate in model respecification are flagged with the same superscript (^a and ^d were derived from Sellbom [2011], and ^b and ^c were added in this study).

Levenson, M. R., Kiehl, K. A., & Fitzpatrick, C. M. (1995). Assessing psychopathic attributes in a noninstitutionalized population. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68(1), 151–158. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.68.1.151

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Brinkley, C. A., Diamond, P. M., Magaletta, P. R., & Heigel, C. P. (2008). Cross-validation of Levenson's psychopathy scale in a sample of federal female inmates. Assessment, 15(4), 464–482. doi: 10.1177/1073191108319043

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar

Sellbom, M. (2011). Elaborating on the construct validity of the Levenson self-report psychopathy scale in incarcerated and non-incarcerated samples. Law and Human Behavior, 35(6), 440–451. doi: 10.1007/s10979-010-9249-x

 PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar